Join 200,000+ other SprintUsers for free at the #1 online community for Sprint cell phone customers! Win cool prizes in our weekly contests. Talk about the newest phones or post your question in our forums! Become a premium member and get unlimited Focus Uploads to your Sprint phone.

All visitors must register before they can post questions, contact other members or search our database of over 127,000 threads and 1.7 million posts. So what are you waiting for? Register for free today!

When you call a landline from your cellphone, what name does the Caller ID display? For over 40% of our customers, that field is blank, and as the memo that went out today shows, Sprint will be updating all the blank fields to the account holder's name later this month. Call into care if you want to update/change this ahead of time.

PLEASE NOTE: You can't pick just anything to display. You can choose either the account holder's name or 'Wireless Caller' (or set the name/number to both be blocked).

Here's the memo that went out:

Caller Name (CNAM) Update and Notification

Beginning in May, Sprint will populate any blank CNAM field with the account holder‘s name, changing the way the customer‘s name appears on wireline Caller IDs.

During May and June, consumer and IL customers will receive a bill messages and the following text message, informing them of this change.

Quote:

SprintFreeMsg: The Caller ID name for this number will be updated by 6/15 to display the name of the Sprint account holder. Call *2 from your mobile to modify.

The CNAM field cannot be updated on sprint.com.

Why you need to know it

Customers may call in to ask that their Caller ID name be changed to reflect another name or may not want their name to display at all.
What you need to do

For steps to change the name that appears on Caller ID, go to CST > Search and use the keywordsCaller ID | Change Name and select Change Caller ID Name for a Subscriber.
Or, populate the CNAM field withWireless Caller for customers that don‘t want a name to display on Caller ID.

for consumer IL (personal/family,etc...) TECHNICALLY the name either has to be the account holders, or 'wireless caller' - however I think we're all aware that if you ask enough, eventually someone will change it (whether it's allowed or not).

For Business Accounts (CL) The name would be populated with the corporate/business name, however the same as above applies - if you ask your account rep enough, or ask a different one, there's a great chance that someone will end up changing it for you. This isn't to say it's correct, but it's to say that it happens a few thousand times a day enterprise wide.

I was able to set every phone on my family plan to the individuals name. Once set by customer service it took about 2 days for the change to take place. This happens because the Caller ID data base is updated every few days and entering into the computer alone does not make the change. Sprint did not give me any hassle about it at all.

I was able to set every phone on my family plan to the individuals name. Once set by customer service it took about 2 days for the change to take place. This happens because the Caller ID data base is updated every few days and entering into the computer alone does not make the change. Sprint did not give me any hassle about it at all.

When I called in to have each line user's name shown for their CID, I was told that only the account holder's name could be used. The Rep said that the field was unpopulated and the system would not accept any names I provided. She said my options were either account holder's name or "Wireless Caller."

When I questioned her why other names weren't accepted, she said it was because of FCC regulations (which she could not specify).

Barry B.: Thank you for contacting Sprint. I am happy to help you. Please hold a moment while I access your account.
Barry B.: Let's move this chat and make it a window of its own. It will enable you to view other Web pages while we chat.

Simply click the white Yes button below now.
Barry B.: Thanks for moving the chat window.
Barry B.: What would you like the Caller ID updated to? Customer: "Wireless Caller"
Barry B.: I have updated the Caller ID per your request. Please allow up to 72 hours for the Caller ID to display correctly.
Barry B.: Did I fully address all the reasons for your chat today? Customer: Yes
Customer: thank you

When I called in to have each line user's name shown for their CID, I was told that only the account holder's name could be used. The Rep said that the field was unpopulated and the system would not accept any names I provided. She said my options were either account holder's name or "Wireless Caller."

When I questioned her why other names weren't accepted, she said it was because of FCC regulations (which she could not specify).

About a year ago there was a thread at Sprintusers from a former Sprint employee who was leaving Sprint and invited everyone to ask him questions. One of the questions was how to change the names on the Caller ID so that each person on a family plan could have their name associated with the phone number. That is when I changed it. I'll look for the thread.

most reps/agents WILL change it for you - the only time it's usually difficult is at times like this where there is a 'push' out there that reminds them of the actual policy. Otherwise, most of them will change it for you, no problem, simply because they want to improve their first call resolution and a few other stats for which they are ranked by. It's one of those things that's a 'no harm no foul' type deal. Might just have to try a couple before one will do it, or wait until the 'policy' has faded out of their new memory